Isotonic beverages, sports drinks, hydration products…whatever you call them, blurring lines and new positionings are creating one heck of a fascinating CPG category. For those looking beyond water for their hydration needs, the market is heavy with functional beverages and powdered supplements. While just about every CPG category has been filled with brands “skating on ice” trying to meet the everchanging consumer demands, none closely compared to the hydration category that was once defined pretty much only by the sports drink Gatorade. It’s that “cat and mouse” business game which is blurring the lines between category, brand, function, and format. But you’ll see throughout this content together that the functional CPG category isn’t so much about invention as it is about incremental innovation. Invention is creating a totally new thing. Gatorade was something totally new. Today, if you want to create something that has a lasting impact on the CPG world, it needs to be combo of “new” yet “familiar.” Do something too closely related to the market leader and people won’t take notice but do something too novel and they’re confused. In the CPG industry, most successful products do not arrive out of nowhere; they’re remixes of existing ones. I'll explain how brands like BODYARMOUR, BioSteel, Liquid IV, and PRIME Hydration, were all inspired by the category creator Gatorade. Finally, I'll explain where I see the hydration category going next by mentioning a few trends.

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